Sterling board blames tavern for ice on Route 12

STERLING 
Though town officials say they’re creating a road hazard, the owners of the Black Sheep Tavern say they’re just trying to stay afloat.

Constantino and Tony Zahariadis told selectmen Wednesday night that they need the town’s help if they are going to comply with a Nov. 22 cease-and-desist order from the Department of Public Works. The DPW said the tavern had been pumping water from its basement through a series of drains and pipes that led to busy Leominster Road (Route 12), where it freezes and creates an unsafe roadway.

The brothers contend that they’re fighting a losing battle with a high water table in northern Sterling and the force of gravity, which pulls water from their catch basin and parking lot into the public street. The problem has been made worse, Tony Zahariadis said, by a blockage in a nearby town- or state-owned culvert under Route 12.

“A lot of that water that’s coming out (of the basement) is coming right off Route 12,” Mr. Zahariadis said.

Mr. Zahariadis said he and his brother have made an effort to contain the water on their property, removing the pipe close to the roadway and spending “a substantial amount of money” on excavations this winter.

Paul M. Sushchyk, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the problem has to be fixed, somehow.